Another day, another double. With the late announcement of Chelsea’s visit to Carrow Road being added to gameweek 28, we now have no less than eight doubles to look forward to this round.
| TEAM | DGW FIXTURES |
| Aston Villa | Southampton (home), Leeds (away) |
| Chelsea | Burnley (away), Norwich (away) |
| Leeds | Leicester (away), Aston Villa (home) |
| Newcastle | Brighton (away), Southampton (away) |
| Norwich | Brentford (home), Chelsea (home) |
| Southampton | Aston Villa (away), Newcastle (home) |
| Watford | Arsenal (home), Wolves (away) |
| Wolves | Crystal Palace (home), Watford (home) |
Planning will require some longer-term thinking though, as gameweek 29 currently features six (other) teams doubling already, while GW30 will be a blank one for at least twelve sides. We’ll be focusing on the upcoming double gameweek for now, but keep this in mind, especially if you have few or no chips left.
In DGW28, on paper, the stand-out doubling sides are Wolves (Palace and Watford home), Aston Villa (Southampton home, Leeds away), Chelsea (Burnley and Norwich away) but BGW30 and Southampton (Villa away, Newcastle home) also BGW30. For Chelsea and Southampton (as well as Newcastle and Norwich) who have a BGW30 if you intend using your Free Hit in GW30 then they are definitely still worth bringing in for DGW28.
Don’t automatically discard the sides with a single gameweek. Leicester at home to Leeds, Liverpool at home to West Ham and Spurs at home to Everton are all appealing from a fantasy point of view. The calendar chaos has made strategic teams decisions like free transfers, taking hits and chip usage even more team-dependent than ever, but expect a more than decent amount of Free Hits and Wildcards to be activated for DGW28, complemented with a few Bench Boosters. The following teams don’t have a DGW28 and also have a Blank GW30 (i.e. 2 games only in the next 3 GWs): Brentford, Burnley, Palace, Man City & Man Utd so players from these clubs likely to be transferred out for assets that play 4 times in the next 3 GWs.
Don’t forget, the FPL deadline for gameweek 28 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, March 5th, 2022.
Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per March 4th, 2022)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | De Gea (MUN), Sanchez (BRI), Ramsdale (ARS) | Sa (WOL), Dubravka (NEW), Mendy (CHE) | |
| DEF | Reguilon (TOT), Cancelo (MCI), Mee (BUR) | Rudiger (CHE), Livramento (SOU), Coady (WOL) | Chelsea, Soton, Wolves double gameweek |
| MID | Bowen (WHU), Fernandes (MUN), Jota (LIV) | Salah (LIV), Willock (NEW), Coutinho (AST) | Newcastle DGW, Coutingo DGW, Salah for captain |
| FOR | Antonio (WHU), Ronaldo (MUN), Saint-Maximin (NEW) | Adams (SOU), Jimenez (WOL), Kane (TOT) | Soton and Wolves DGW, Kane for captain |
Premium pick
One of the funny things about DGW28 is that all consideration-worthy premium fantasy assets have a single gameweek. Sure, there is Romelu Lukaku who might haul against Burnley and Norwich, but his recent performances and underlying numbers (bar this week’s earlier FA Cup game against Luton Town) definitely do not support his £11.5m price tag. As a result, our first and premium fantasy pick for a rather massive double gameweek is a single gameweek’er. Three goals, an assist and 26 FPL points over the last two games have shot Harry Kane (£12.3m) right back onto our radars for Spurs’ upcoming home game against leaky Everton, especially on the road. The Toffees have conceded 5 goals in their last two away games Southampton and Newcastle, which could bode well for Kane and co. The England captain has registered three double-digit hauls in his last six league games and he might just make it four in seven on Monday.
Non-premium pick
Another fun feature of double gameweek 28 is that one of the best doubles from an attacking point of view has been given to one of the lowest-scoring sides in the league. Wolves play Crystal Palace and Watford at home, and while the Eagles have conceded a mid-table average of 38 goals in 27 games so far, only two sides have conceded more than Watford’s 47 goals. Wolves though, have scored just 24 goals this season, which is the third-lowest tally in the entire league after Norwich and Burnley. In other words, our recommendation of Raul Jimenez (£7.4m) as non-premium fantasy pick for DGW comes with a disclaimer. A warning, if you will. An upside to Wolves and Jimenez doubling is that, when Wolves do score, points for the Mexican striker are likely as he’s been directly involved in just over 37% of all their goals (5 goals, 4 assists). In other words, statistically speaking, if Wolves manage to put three in total past Palace and Wolves, Jimenez gets at least one return out of it. In a double gameweek that should see him start twice, that can easily translate into double digits, which would be his first double-digit haul since his 10 FPL points from 2 assists against Newcastle all the way back in gameweek 7. Interesting? Yes. Likely? We’ll leave that up to you.
The budget enabler
After a bout on the side lines due to injury, Tino Livramento (£4.4m) looks to be back to his best again with 20 FPL points from his last two games, courtesy of two clean sheets and an assist. Seeing him play for Southampton nowadays, it’s hard to imagine that he was priced at £4.0m at the start of this season. He once again looks nailed-on in Ralph Hasenhüttl’s starting eleven, which we love to hear in the build-up to Southampton’s double gameweek against Aston Villa and Newcastle. It’s not the easiest of doubles for the Saints, but definitely not the hardest either, especially considering their current form. They haven’t lost in their last five league games, a run that included a home game against Man City and away games against Spurs and Man United, and they kept back-to-back clean sheets in gameweeks 26 and 27, versus Everton and Norwich, respectively. Livramento is a lively force on the right flank and his manager gives him ample freedom bomb forward, so at just £4.4m at the moment of writing, the Chelsea Academy graduate is one the stand-out budget fantasy picks for double gameweek 28.
The differential
Chelsea are not the most reliable of sides at the moment, especially not in attack, but Kai Havertz (£7.8m) could very well be worth a punt. With an acceptable price tag and a current ownership of just 3.5%, the German international has all the makings of a major differential for the Blues’ double against Burnley and Norwich. He was Chelsea’s best forward in the League Cup final against Liverpool and was then rested for the FA Cup 5th Round tie with Luton, which bodes well for his chances of a start against Burnley on Saturday afternoon. His 2 goals and 2 assists so far this season are underwhelming to say the least, and with the likes of Lukaku and Werner vying for a spot in the starting eleven rotation is a real risk, but DGW28 could become his best FPL performance of the season so far. Bringing him in for this one is not without risk, but hey, that’s why he’s listed in our differential section as well. A shrewd punt, we feel, especially for those chasing in their mini-leagues. Other possibilities are Reece James (£6.2m) back from injury with an 11% (mainly historic) ownership (Azpilicueta very unlikely to play due to injury) and Mason Mount (£7.5m) and 13% ownership.
The captaincy
Seeing how none of the performing premium fantasy assets are doubling in a double gameweek that sees no less than eight sides play twice, we might see one of the most spread-out captaincy contests of the season in DGW28. Personally, we feel the safest choices are Mo Salah and Harry Kane, who both have just a single gameweek, and we ended up placing the armband on the latter. The England captain is looking sharper and sharper under Antonio Conte and event though Spurs as a team are far from reliable at the moment, Kane has 3 goals and 1 assist from his last three league outings. A home game against Everton looks like the perfect opportunity to build on that form.
Alternatively, and we already mentioned Salah at home to West Ham, you could opt for one of the appealing double gameweek players. Villa’s Coutinho faces Southampton and Leeds (under new management) and Raul Jimenez has home games against Palace and Watford, while the Chelsea defence (i.e. Rudiger, James, Alonso) are facing Burnley and Norwich, the bottom-two sides in terms of goals scored this season. Raphinha under new management against Leicester and Villa is more of an outfield pick, though you get guaranteed starts and set-pieces on top of his key role in Leeds’ attacking plans.